Friday, January 16, 2015

Some good friends of ours, (well, they are good friends of my daughter, but I have come to know them as our own personal friends also) some time ago, decided to adopt. They have three children, and decided they would adopt their fourth child. They wanted a boy, which would mean they would have two girls and two boys then. It would be most likely an infant, and from the USA. They would name this baby boy, John.

But that is not exactly how it turned out. To read their story, Mom has started a blog. She has never blogged before, so it is a work in progress. Please, go here to learn more about the incredible journey to bring John home: His Name is John: Our Story.

I wrote them a poem for John, when they found him. We could all see him, read about him, pray for him, etc. but he could not know yet that there was a family - real people somewhere desperately trying to find a way to make his dream of a family come true, wanting to make him a part of their family. When I too saw his pictures and video, it struck me how much we already knew about him, how much was being put in place to have this happen...and yet, he knew nothing of it. His world had not changed, but for others it was changing already.

Here is our story about God leading us to adopt John (Zhen Zhen). I hope you are blessed by seeing God's Hand as we have been!

These are just some of the things I wrote down about John's story and ours coming together. Many of you have read this in an email I sent at the beginning of all of this, but I thought it was the best way to get the story on the blog (finally!)

In the fall of 2013 Ethan and I had a light-hearted yet real conversation like this:

Ethan: “We need another boy. Sam needs a brother.”

Me: “Let’s adopt one.”

Ethan: “Okay.”

Me: “Really?”

Ethan: “Yeah.”

Me: “Let’s pray, then. If God wants us to adopt a boy, He will make it happen. It’s not hard for Him… Dear God, if you want us to adopt a boy, we will. Please make it happen if you want us to.”

That must have been November 21, 2013, because two weeks later I wrote in my prayer journal the date 40 weeks from that night. I didn’t know “why” but along the lines of, “Hey- maybe our baby is being created right now and we can pray for him from the start of his life until birth.” The date I wrote: August 28.

Two weeks later, Ethan and I watched a documentary about adoption called, “Stuck.” We had been praying and thinking about adoption, but that night we literally shook hands—agreeing that we would start taking steps toward adoption and only stop if God told us otherwise along the way. I also wrote down the date 40 weeks from that day. In my prayer journal it says:

“John” (Aug. 28, Sept. 11?)

Sometime in the fall (soon after we decided and felt led to start taking steps) I was reading my Bible and praying. I wrote down, “The work of this adoption will be done in prayer.”

I wrote each of our kids’ names and the theme of their name, story, birth, etc. It looks like this:

I recently reread those Scriptures and am reminded of the message I heard from the Lord that morning about our future son. Name him John. He will be like John the Baptist in that he will lead people out of darkness into the Light—sharing salvation and the forgiveness of sins. Just like the themes and beautiful messages God gave us with our biological children, those passages, I believe, mean something significant about John and God’s plans for his life.

Since that day I have been praying for our hopeful adopted son by the name of John.

JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

Thank you for reading. But there is more to his story... for more of the story and to keep updated on the adoption process please go to her blog:

Thursday, January 15, 2015

On Laura Purdy Salas' 15 Words or Less today I wrote to the picture of her dog, Jack, shaking after a bath. I posted this on the Comments there, but it wouldn't hold its format. SO, I'm posting it here, too! I really wanted it to come out in the right shape!

Tornado Dog

Show us again, Toto! How
did it go, when your
house spun
in the
Tor
na
d
o
?

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Poetry Jam today...write a new poem with the topic of Feet or Shoes....
Here's my take:

Metric Foot

With accents and syllables to determine it’s toneA metrical foot can stand on its own -Dancing to dactyl or swinging spondee,Kicking up iamb or toe tapping trochee;Anapestic rhythm can’t be left aloneUnless your poor sole has, alas, turned to stone.

And speaking of Tabatha, few weeks ago Tabatha Yeatts organized a Winter Poetry Swap. And through that swap I received a wonderful poem by Matt Forrest Esenwine that I would like to share with you today. Because he too is from the Northeast, his poem about birches and snow brought up images in my mind...and remembrances of heavy snow with birches bent low to touch the ground. We had some birches doing just that before Thanksgiving, but I couldn't find my pictures. I did finally locate some from last year though.
Matt also included a beautiful milkweed ornament, that arrived just in time to be added to our small "motel Christmas" tree we've used ever since our Thanksgiving weekend house fire in 2007.
Matt's had one bad spate of luck lately, mixed in with some pretty good stuff lined up to happen this year. Perhaps 2015 will hold easier, funner things! Hope so! It's definitely his time to shine!

Here's our beloved little tree with Matt's gift ornament - and after that is the poem he sent to me:

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

We missed our Christmas visit this year with our daughter and her family, as everyone was taking sick time during vacation time. So, last night my daughter called and we chatted via Facetime - she had my 8 month old granddaughter on her lap and my 3 year old grandson beside her (that would of course also be her daughter and her son...but this is my story).

When GD got fussy, I pushed the button one of her favorite toys for her and put it in camera view. She stopped to look at it. Then GS asked to hear his favorite truck noises, so more buttons were pushed and the iPhone camera shifted over to the red truck that I keep here for him.

I watched him do forward rolls, and he showed me his new truck with the big wheels. I listened to him read a book. I could see baby sister craning her neck to peek in to watch the screen, too. He called out the names of the months after me...it's a thing we do - I say a month in a sing-song voice and he mimics me...February came out something like "Never-airy" this time!

He watched the puppy and dog playing and rough-housing on the livingroom floor. When he giggled the puppy stopped to look at him on the iPhone screen and then attempted to lick him. Suddenly we were muted. Did you know that the iPhone is also responsive to puppy tongues? So if your hands are full sometime, you might want to try using your tongue to text with...kind of a new way of using your tongue to talk...Still, don't tongue-text and drive.

What with the toys and the puppy excitement, GS decided he wanted to come to my house right then and there. It was so easy. "Drive in the car to Nannie's house."

So he left the room to get prepared. When he returned, I could hear him in the background, "Socks!...check!" and "Shoes!...Check!" He got his socks on all by himself, albeit heels up.

I had to show him the cluttery laundry room where he camps out in a sleeping bag and with a lantern night-light hanging on a branch (ok, a cabinet knob overhead), so he'd see that it just wasn't ready for sleeping yet. Besides, it was suppertime in Pennsylvania and a long drive to Maine.

I think he was okay with waiting a bit, though I heard him "Skidoo" a couple of times - as in Blue's Clues - pretending to hop into the iPad and into my house!

This morning, my daughter sent me a picture of his bedroom - empty bed. Guess where he slept last night...when she checked on him before coming to bed, she saw that his bed was empty and he was sleeping on the floor with his blanket and pillow. Hmm. I wonder if he was pretending he was at Nannie's house sleeping on the floor in his sleeping bag?

Pretend tickles and blowing kisses...all doable through Facetime, but I can hardly wait for our face-to-face, real touch-time - when the puppy can REALLY lick his face!

Friday, January 2, 2015

I began writing a poem for today, then remembered I had been planning on posting one from Matt Forrest Esenwine that he sent me. I realized I hadn't told him it would be this week, so have now postponed it until next Friday. Then Michelle H. Barnes emailed me to say she was going to post my poem I wrote for her for the Winter Poetry Swap organized by Tabatha Yeatts.
So now, my post is going to merely refer you to Michelle's site: Today's Little Ditty. There. Post done for Poetry Friday. Easy-peasy. (Now there's a poem that rhymes...)Go see Michelle now. She's there with her new word for the new year.
Then go visit many other wonderful poetry links at The Miss Rumphius Effect where Poetry Friday is being hosted by Tricia Stohr-Hunt.

Ok. Nevermind. I just finished the poem anyway...inspired by Gingersnap...

If I Were a Dog...and I think that I am...

If I were a dog

though I'm glad that I'm not

I’d do what I’m told

And learn what I’m taught

When you said to sit

I’d stay in that spot

If you threw a ball

that ball would get caught

I’d play with my toys

just ones that you brought

I wouldn’t chew chairs

or other such spots

I’d need to go out

yet not whine a lot

Then late in the night

I’d curl like a dot

And lay by the fire

till I got too hot

Though I'm not a dog

and glad that I'm not

I think that in time

I'll give it a shot.

Would that be a puppy shot? Oooh, that's today. My 9 week puppy shots are today.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

There is nothing quite like puppy ears.
So soft. So supple. So warm. So floppy.
Ginger sits by the door now, staring at it, when she wants to go out. You don't have a lot of time to change from slippers to shoes and grab a coat and leash, but she has given you fair warning. It is time to go out. She has things to attend to. Now. She's nine weeks old - how much can you expect? Every second to her is like a minute or more to us.
And when I carry her down the stairs and plunk her on the ground, she has a "spot" that she races to, ears flapping up and down and back, as if she were trying to fly. And then she settles in once, twice, to take care of her business. A couple of "good girl"s from me, and we are flying back to the house. It's cold out. There's a nice warm spot in front of the woodstove with our names on it.
I am happy that I finally got my coat on the "get the puppy outside quick" circuit.
And fortunately, finding and returning to the diet of puppy food she started out on has decreased her need to go out every hour and a half around the clock...
I slept from 11 to 4:30 on Tuesday night and 11 to 5:30 last night - ok, I missed the Happy New Year's cheers... but totally enjoyed and cheered for the Happy New Ears that slept clean and dry through the night!